Alas, Poor Albus
by MoonstoneIce
Summary: Scorpius is desperate to help his friend Albus through loss, but Albus is getting out of hand. Even Rose can't bring him out of his crazed desire to dig up all the grounds of Hogwarts in search of something. But what is it Albus is looking for?


**A/N:** This is Beater 2 of the Chudley Cannons checking in for Round 9 of the QLFC.

 **Prompts:** 4\. jealousy, 13. "That is literally the worst thing ever!", and my Shakespeare play was Hamlet. I decided to rework the Yorick speech, where Hamlet reminiscences about his old jester and contemplates death.

 **Words (before a/n):** 2,901 words

 **None of this world is mine. The characters and world are J.K. Rowling's** **(and partially Shakespeare's), not mine. Thanks!**

* * *

Quietly, Scorpius placed his hand over Rose's mouth, then he shook her gently. Her eyes popped wide open, causing her to lurch backward into her pillow. Once she realized it was, in fact, only him, Scorpius could feel the tension slowly fade out of Rose's body. He removed his hand.

"What in the name Rowena Ravenclaw herself are you doing?" she half-whispered, half-yelled. Her hair was wild, like a little fireball atop her fair, oval-shaped face. Scorpius almost forgot himself just then, leaning in toward her lips, but quickly paused in his motion at the sound of a loud snore.

"Come on, I'll show you," he said instead, hoping she didn't notice how close he had gotten to her.

He had to wait in the common room while she dressed. When Rose asked him what to wear, all he said was be prepared to get muddy. In the dark of the Ravenclaw common room, Scorpius thought—and not for the first time—if involving Rose was such a good idea. But at this point, Scorpius had no idea what to do. Albus was losing it, and Scorp had seen that only Rose could calm him when he was like this.

They weren't exactly friends, though. A bubbling feeling in his stomach told him he had crossed a line, and as Rose descended the stairs, he was sure she would kill him.

"What the _hell_ is going on, Scorp?" she did not look amused.

"It's Albus. He's…" he couldn't explain it she'd have to see for herself.

They exited Ravenclaw Tower and took the backway out to the grounds of Hogwarts. As they passed the Whomping Willow, Rose suddenly stopped.

"What, what is it?" Scorpius looked around them, waiting for Hagrid or Filch to come lurking out from behind a tree. That's all they needed, to get caught _and_ to have Al in hysterics.

"How'd you get into the girls' dormitory? The steps are enchanted."

He stared right into her light brown eyes. She looked so serious, it hurt. "I figured that out once I hit the fifth step. So I used the railing like a ladder and climbed up sideways."

Satisfied, she continued to walk. But not even three steps later did she stop again.

"Now what?" Scorpius asked. Exasperated, he turned so that they were facing each other again, only inches apart. "Your cousin is bonkers, and you're worried about how I snuck in to your bedroom?"

"Yes, I am." Rose had said it so matter-of-factly, even Scorpius questioned his actions. Of course Rose didn't know what was in store yet. Of course her mind was still on her disturbed slumber. From her perspective, her part-time acquaintance broke into her room and started spouting lunacy.

"Then what is it?" he implored her.

"How'd you get into the Ravenclaw common room in the first place?" She placed her hands on her hips, just like his mother would do when he was in trouble.

" _Dammit_ , Rose! I'm Slytherin. Cunning, manipulative. Eye-on-the-prize. I figured it out, okay? And now we're here, so let's _go_ ," he grabbed her wrist and pulled her along.

"Hey!" Rose said, but she didn't try to pull away, and for that Scorpius thanked her.

They weren't friends, but they hadn't been able to deny each other from day one. Albus had been sorted into Slytherin along with Scorpius. They were instant friends, really, bonding over Quidditch and the fact that they both had an 11 ¾ inch ash wood wand. Scorpius's had a dragon heartstring core while Albus's was unicorn hair. At eleven, it was quite a spectacle to them both.

Rose and Albus were inseparable, despite being in different houses, which meant Scorpius had to see a lot of her. Every time Albus got into trouble, Rose and Scorp were there, bailing him out. Second year, his bird-brained friend decided he wanted to be like his father and fight a mountain troll. Scorpius and Rose followed him for hours through the Forbidden Forest, until daylight broke through the trees, and they had to send out red sparks to show they were lost.

They never did find that troll either.

Another time, Rose got Scorpius out of Divination, because Albus had gotten his head stuck in a rather small crevice in the Hogwarts corridors.

"Why'd you stick your head in there in the first place?" Scorp had asked.

"I wanted to know if it was important," came the muffled reply. Rose had given Scorpius The Look. They laughed and laughed, then got Albus out and went to dinner. The Look was their closest thing to an inside joke. It meant "do you believe this." It meant "is this really our friend." It meant "only you get what it's like knowing Albus."

Now, Scorpius was rolling his wand nervously in his left hand, while his right held Rose's hand gently. She was in step with him and still held his hand back. He wondered why.

"What's going on?" Rose asked again, agitated.

"I really don't know," he chanced a glance toward her. "He woke me up, dragged me out here, and began digging."

"Digging?"

"I'm worried, Rose. He's… he's not the same."

"Should he be?" she asked.

"Of course not. Loosing someone that close to you… it kills even the best parts of people sometimes," he felt her squeeze his hand. "But, this isn't healthy, Rose. It's borderline insanity."

"Don't you think that's a little insensitive?"

"No," he stopped this time, dropping her hand. "I don't. You haven't seen him at night. I have. He's beyond consolable. Mental, almost—"

There was a _cling_ and then a scraping noise. A voice spoke, softly, to itself. "What's this?"

Rose looked at Scorpius, worry finally finding a spot on her face, and dashed off. Scorp was close behind, and they both came to a halt in front of a two-foot-deep hole. Albus was standing smack in the center, admiring his latest find.

"That is literally the worst thing ever!" Scorpius cried. The top part of a human skull rested in the palm of Albus's hand. The Potter boy held it up, like he was presenting it to the world, a little bulb he had plucked from the earth.

"Alas, poor Yorick," Rose took the decaying, brown bone from Albus. He continued working, digging deeper. Rose, in turn, examined the remains. She turned to Scorpius, a devilish gleam in her eye. "I knew him, Horatio."

"What?!" Scorpius jumped back from the skull and Rose.

"Yorick." Scoprius shook his head.

"Hamlet?" Scorpius shrugged.

" _Shakespeare?!"_ Scorpius felt his jaw dropping. "UGH! _Wizards._ "

"That's a skull!" Scorpius shouted. "A _human_ skull. That was a human, with skin and eyes and hair, and you're holding it with your bare hand!"

"Relax, mate. It's nothing," Albus kept at it. Digging, digging, digging. His back was turned to his cousin and friend, which Scorpius was grateful for. Had he seen whatever face Albus was making, Scorpius was sure he'd send his friend to the loony bin without question.

"I don't know what the Weasley-Potter clan does during their spare time, but we Malfoys tend to leave the dead at rest!"

Rose elbowed Scorpius in the ribs. Albus faltered in his methodic digging but ignored Scorp's words. "A skull. Nothing important. Nothing to worry over. Just a skull. Not what we need at all."

Scorpius looked at Rose apologetically. She simply shook her head, placed the skull a top a pile of rocks Albus had sorted through, and jumped into the hole.

"Where we digging to, cous?" she asked, transfiguring her wand into a hand shovel.

"It's not a where. It's a what." Albus didn't even look at her.

Scorpius gave her a hand out of the hole. She leaned into him, whispering, her breath tickling his neck and ear. "This is real bad. I don't know what to do."

An hour passed, and Albus had moved on to two more holes. Scorpius was propped up against a tree. Rose was pacing.

"Albus, this is crazy! Just tell us what you're up to. Tell us what you're looking for, and we can help!"

"Can't, Rosie. I just can't." With that, Albus tossed another handful of rocks on his ever-growing pile and started his next hole.

He was covered in mud from the waist down, splattered in earth and grime. He had not uncovered the rest of the skull's body, for which Scorpius gave a silent thanks to whoever was listening.

"It's kinda cute," Rose bent to pick up the bone again.

 _No_ , thought Scorpius. _I am_ not _jealous of some poor dead man's skull._

Rose began cleaning the dirt off of it, and Scorpius felt a heated pang rise in his chest. _Oh Merlin,_ he thought. _I_ am _jealous of a skull!_

Ridiculous.

Another hour later, and Rose and Scorpius had taken to rolling the skull back and forth between them.

"That's my point!" she shouted, when Yorick rolled passed Scorpius's hands.

"No way! You hit it from the missing jaw part. We both said that was illegal _and_ dentally unhygienic."

"Well I take it back," she laughed. "A good whack is perfect for the gums."

"Your grandparents taught you that one, eh?" said Scorpius.

The skull rolled into Rose's hands, where she caught it. She looked up at Scorpius, only a couple feet away. "How'd you know they were dentists?"

"You said so, a while ago," Scorpius shrugged. "I do listen, believe it or not."

"Really?"

"Always the tone of surprise?" he smirked. If it wasn't nearly three in the morning, he'd've thought he'd seen her blushing.

"ARAGHHH!"

They both looked over toward Albus, who was a good twenty feet away from the tree they picked. He threw down his shovel. "It's not here!"

Together, Scorpius and Rose approached Albus. He had fallen to his knees and was quietly crying to himself.

"Al, what is it?" Scorp knelt down beside his best friend. "Come on, mate, just tell us. We can help."

"No," Albus sniffed. "You really can't."

"Oi!" the boys' heads whipped around to view a very fiery looking Rose. "I didn't get pulled out of my bed at one in the morning only to play with a skull and watch you sulk, Albus Severus Potter. You will tell me what's going on, so help me, or I'll get Neville out here!"

Scorpius helped Albus to his feet. "Fine. I'll tell you. You know you don't have to threaten authority every time, Aunt Hermione. _God_."

"I am not like my mother!" Rose protested. She looked fixed on continuing, but Scorpius gave her The Look. It said "our friend needs us right now. Your ego can wait." She quickly shut up.

Albus's chin fell to his chest, like he couldn't look them in the eyes. "You ever hear of the Resurrection Stone?"

"'Course," Scorpius said. "Your dad had it last, but purposely destroyed it so it wouldn't be used for evil."

"That's not quite the truth," Albus looked up sheepishly.

"He didn't destroy it?" Rose asked. "Which means that—"

"—it's on the Hogwarts grounds!" Scorpius finished for her.

Albus looked between the two of them, the hint of a smile playing at his lips, but he dropped whatever thought he had had. Scorpius made a note to ask Al about it later, when the Potter boy wasn't as distraught.

"Right. It's around here alright. Or it might be over there. Or there. It's in the forest _somewhere,_ and I just thought that if I could get my hands on it, I could say goodbye to her. I could tell her I love her. I could apologize for breaking the vase dad bought her for her birthday. I could ask her if she's happy. I could…"

Albus broke, crying again. Scorpius put an arm around his shoulder, while Rose wrapped them both in a hug.

"I miss her, too," Scorpius heard Rose whisper to Albus. This, for some reason, set Al off, because he was sobbing within seconds. Scorpius wished he could help more, but the closest relative he had lost in his lifetime was his Aunt Daphne to cancer, not his mum in a freak explosion.

Scorpius tried to slip out of the hug. He was perfectly fine comforting Al. He liked knowing that his friend would come to him when he was hurting this much, but having Rose so close to him had Scorpius squirming. It wasn't the time or place to be fawning over a beautiful and intelligent girl. A girl he had just spent two hours talking to in the dead of night. A girl who helped him create probably the weirdest game in human history. She had no business holding him there like that.

When they broke apart, Albus asked for a minute alone. Rose and Scorpius returned to where they had sat before, too concerned to return to the castle without Al.

"Uncle Harry told me he wasn't ready to come back," Rose sank down to the ground beside Scorpius. "But he also said that he needed all three of his kids to try their best to accept and move on."

"I bet Harry needed the time to himself," Scorpius said.

Rose smiled at him, a soft, sad gesture. "That's what I said, too."

She pulled his arm around her and rested her head on his shoulder. Too afraid to move, Scorpius held in his breath. A moment later, Rose laughed. "Just breathe. I won't hurt you. We're friends after all."

"We—we are?"

"Why wouldn't we be?"

"I recall a certain Charms class where I was told to 'shove it, Malfoy,' and then a certain Potions lesson where I was told where exactly I could stick my wand, if I so pleased," he adjusted himself so that Rose could place more of her weight on him.

"Oh that's just because I like you," Rose said, half-asleep. She yawned. "But that's a conversation for another day."

"Like me… as… uh, um. Friends?"

"No, Scorp." She nestled into him. "Now quit asking questions. You know what I mean. Let me sleep."

Dawn was creeping up over the trees by the time Albus had truly calmed down. He was holding the skull in his hand again, brow knit. Rose had fallen asleep, and Scorpius was smiling ear to ear.

"You think we all look like this in the end?" Al's voice was flat.

"Like what? Half of a dirty skull?" Scorpius, the best that he could, scooped Rose up and stood.

Albus approached him. "I guess what I mean is, do you think that no matter who you are in life, you just end up like this?"

He pushed the skull toward Scorpius. It's eye sockets were big black holes in its decaying shell. Up until that point, Scorp really hadn't looked at it. It was brown from the dirt, but the yellow bone shone through the cracks of mud. Without the bottom half of the jaw, it looked comical. Rose had cleaned off all the bugs before they started rolling it around. It was a sad sight really. He felt bad for unearthing it.

Albus's green eyes burned holes into Scorpius, like he had all the answers. "No, Al. I don't think we all end up like this."

"No?"

"No. Sure the body is going to go, but I do think the spirit lives on, and isn't that what really counts? The thing that's the essence of who you are, the thing that makes you who you are gets to keep going beyond the flesh and bone. You're mother's spirit is still going strong, just as beautiful as always. Truly. And this poor fellow is too," Scorpius gestured to the skull. "Now, I can't tell you if he was beautiful before this, but I know that he's just fine in the afterlife. Probably still has his bottom jaw there. "

"Yeah, yeah. Ha ha," but Albus did smile. "It's really awful trying to move on. I hate that I'm here, away from my dad. But if I were home, I'd be a wreck. I just want to say goodbye, and I can't even do that."

"We could look on the weekend for the stone. The three of us. I'm sure Rose would be fine with that," Scorp said. "And, if we don't find it, at least we'll be able to help Professor Longbottom plant all those rare species he's been going on and on about."

Albus looked around him. "Yeesh. I did make a mess, didn't I?"

"It's fine. We'll let Hagrid know so no thestral or unicorn trips, and we'll move on from there. But, before that, we really should be getting back to the castle. I'm exhausted. And you're covered in mud. And Rose isn't exactly the lightest."

"I'm still awake," Rose mumbled into his neck. Scorpius and Albus looked at each other, and for the first time, Al gave Scorpius The Look. It said "I can't believe I'm going to have to watch you two snogging."

"I—" Scorpius tried to defend himself.

"You're right. Let's get back," Al smirked. He took one last look at the skull before dropping it in one of his holes. "I think he deserves some sleep too."

As the two walked back to the castle, Rose still in Scorpius's arms, she whispered into his ear, "He's going to be just fine. He's got you."


End file.
